Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

When we recently went to a Bay Ridge restaurant called Mussels & More, you may be surprised to hear we opted for no mussels, just whatever "more" entails.  We find ourselves walking around this stretch of Bay Ridge a lot - between 5th and 3rd Avenues and from 86th Street to however far north our legs take us - and have seen Mussels & More frequently, but never thought to try it until now.  Big mistake, because the food turns out to be pretty spectacular! We shared an order of fried calamari and fish & chips, with sweet potato fries instead of regular chips.  The food came out quickly and was really fresh and tasty.  First, our compliments to the chef for frying up some of the best calamari we've ever had: light, flavorful batter with squid rings fried to perfection.  I've had lots of good calamari from a variety of places, but I think the ones at Mussels & More will be most memorable, honestly, because it was unexpected.  The fish ...

There's a cute little neighborhood of Manhattan where I've never traversed, but discovered one night en route to a French restaurant called Bistro Vendome.  The restaurant is in Sutton Place (let me guess your reaction: "where the heck is Sutton Place?!") right under the 59th Street Bridge.  It was dark and romantic inside; the restaurant was a sort of crazy configuration of split level - a few tables on the ground floor, a few tables up some steps, and a bigger space down some steps.  The different levels gave the eatery some charm, but must make it very difficult for wait staff to maneuver.  Many of the diners were a few generations older than us, meaning they spoke to the staff in fluent French and were probably dignitaries or ambassadors or some such thing.  It was very cute to people-watch. Alex had a duck leg confit and I had a big ol' vat of Normande mussels.  The duck leg was perched  on a plate almost like it was seductively beckon...